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Posted: Nov 20, 2012

NanoMech Wins Highly Competitive Department of Energy Grant

(Nanowerk News) NanoMech Inc. has been selected for an award from the Department of Energy (DoE) to develop a nano-manufactured drop-in lubricant technology to dramatically reduce friction in engine components, in order to help save billions of dollars annually in fuel and maintenance costs.

Over 450 companies competed through DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, an initiative that aims to help small businesses to commercialize technological innovations.

Friction is one of the major reasons for failure of vital engineering components and systems used in aerospace, military, and industrial applications. The annual cost of friction and wear-related energy and material losses is estimated to be over $700 billion — 5% to 7% of the United States’ $14 trillion gross national product.

NanoMech’s proposed effort in the Phase-I is to lab and field test advanced proprietary nanolubricants designed to improve the energy efficiency of engines, thereby significantly reducing consumption of imported fuel, and potentially saving billions of dollars.

Test results from simultaneous and identical tests on machine cam. Image on the right is the result of the addition of 5% NanoMech nGlide.

The nGlide® additive technology innovation, in field tests for another application sector, has shown unprecedented improvements in performance of grease lubricants by as much as 1000% that can also safely extend the life of the Earth’s hydrocarbon supply chain while making machines operate much better and longer.

Mr. Neil Canter, the Editor of Tribology and Lubrication Technology Magazine, said of NanoMech's advanced nGlide® technology, "their combination of solid lubricant nano-particles with environmentally friendly organic additives provides a unique set of properties that are not matched by any additive commercially available today.”

James M. Phillips, Chairman and CEO of NanoMech Inc., stated, “We appreciate the support of the Department of Energy in helping us advance the nGlide® technology platform to include motor oil. We are honored to receive this recognition and move forward our breakthrough technology, with unprecedented capability, which will increase machine and vehicle performance by enhancing durability, operability, and the life of components, while solving the global need to save fossil fuels.”

Dr. Malshe, CTO and founder of NanoMech, added, "we have conclusively proved we can dramatically enhance performance and life of all machines by reducing the coefficient of friction to near-zero including the ability to withstand extreme pressure (EP) under severe boundary lubrication with our new nGlide® grease innovation, and look forward to extending this scientific advancement now to motor oil which could ultimately decrease global fuel consumption and save U.S. consumers billions of dollars annually."

About NanoMech

NanoMech Inc. was founded in 2002 and creates advanced engineering materials through patent and patent-pending nano-inspired and nano-manufactured product development. NanoMech is a pioneer in applying breakthrough nano-engineered innovations to robust areas of national interest including machining and manufacturing, lubrication and energy, and strategic military applications. NanoMech brings ideas from innovation to implementation, commercializing nano-manufactured products at record speed in the market. NanoMech is a member of President Obama’s Materials Genome Initiative, a public / private collaboration with the aim of doubling the speed and reducing the cost of discovering, developing, and deploying new advanced materials. NanoMech is also a member of the U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative (USMCI) and the U.S. Technology Leadership and Strategy Initiative, (www.Compete.org) both based in Washington, DC. For more information please visit www.NanoMech.com.

About nGlide®

The nGlide® technology platform is the proprietary and patents-pending macromolecular innovation powered by NanoMech’s novel nano-inspired engineering that has fully commercialized for the grease and pastes multi-billion dollar market. It represents the next generation of advanced lubrication. The technology is manufactured at nano-scale and is convergent assembled at molecular scale in our factory into the final commercial product stage. It is a specially architected multi-component chemistry at sub-micron scale formulated into the TriboTuff® additive packages for greases.

This nano-inspired breakthrough technology extends the life and performance of the hydrocarbon supply chain through dramatic reductions in friction where energy losses are staggering. This includes boundary lubrication, and extending durability of mechanical parts to provide sustainability. Through the nGlide® suite of additive lubrication packages, our proprietary nano-science brings together unique abilities of organic and inorganic macro-molecular lubrication chemistries for a range of advanced industrial applications for gas and oil, machining industries, transportation, aerospace, heavy duty military, farm and construction machines, and other critical sectors for both new and used equipment.

This addresses the global need to save energy and enhance durability and performance of components. nGlide® chemistries reduce friction by orders of magnitude over traditional solid particles-based lubricants as well as liquid lubricant chemistries. This innovation goes beyond the scope of fullerene and similar nano-lubricants, outperforming all other lubricants so dramatically, that nGlide® renders them obsolete.

Source: NanoMech (press release)

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